Prosecutors say Barros was shooter in Cruz killing

PROVIDENCE — Two men were accused Friday afternoon of shooting a 38-year-old Brockton, Mass., man when lawyers presented closing arguments to a jury in Superior Court.The lone, 24-year-old defendant in...

Mark Reynolds Journal Staff Writer mrkrynlds

PROVIDENCE — Two men were accused Friday afternoon of shooting a 38-year-old Brockton, Mass., man when lawyers presented closing arguments to a jury in Superior Court.

The lone, 24-year-old defendant in the murder case, Terrel Barros, of New Bedford, was one of them.

The other man was Stephen Bodden, who was with Barros in the parking lot of the Monet Lounge when gunshots rang out Aug. 26, 2012.

Prosecutors acknowledge that Bodden handled the gun moments after the weapon felled Jamal Cruz, but they argue that Barros was the triggerman who fired two shots, wounding Cruz’s friend and fatally injuring Cruz. They cite the testimony of several witnesses.

Barros’ lawyer, Joseph Voccola, argued Friday that Bodden was the shooter, asserting that Bodden “confessed” to the crime as soon as the police confronted him.

Providence police had descended on the back lot of the Harris Avenue nightclub almost immediately, reaching Barros and Bodden before Barros could drive away.

Testimony presented before Judge Robert D. Krause during the past two weeks shows that four men had headed for two vehicles parked almost bumper to bumper in the lot. One gunshot hit Cruz in the lower chest and another struck his friend, Rokiem Henley, in the leg.

Voccola focused on the testimony of Patrolman Michael Pattie, who said that as he frisked Bodden, the suspect told him: “It’s me. It’s all me. It’s all mine.”

Voccola noted that Bodden’s DNA was found on the grip of the murder weapon, and that Bodden was seen trying to conceal the Smith & Wesson handgun inside the car. The Rhode Island State Crime Lab, he pointed out, had not found Barros’ DNA on the weapon.

The state’s case, said Voccola, rests on the idea that Bodden apparently saw the shooting, took possession of the handgun immediately afterward, then took credit for a crime he didn’t commit.

“I don’t think that makes any sense at all,” he told the jury.

Voccola also asked the jurors to reject the testimony of several witnesses, including Gregory Zorabedian, who testified that he had heard shots and saw Barros lower his arm, holding a gun.

Previously, Zorabedian, who has served prison time for grand larceny, had not reported seeing a gun.

“It is absolutely impossible to resist the cloud of doubt that exists in this case,” said Voccola, who took out a red marker, a placard and an easel and diagrammed the various contradictions that he had already presented to the jury.

Special Assistant Attorney General Peter Roklan told the jury that “only one of two people” pulled the trigger and it was Barros.

Roklan asked the jury to consider the testimony of detectives who talked to Cruz as he died.

One detective, he said, Charles Matracia, had recalled his exchange with Cruz at the scene, saying he hadn’t elicited any response when he had pointed to Bodden and asked Cruz whether Bodden was the shooter.

But Cruz had nodded when Barros was presented, according to Roklan.

Roklan also told the jury that another witness, Henley, had seen Bodden, and Bodden had not been holding a gun when the shots were fired.

He told the jury that Zorabedian had lied under oath, that Zorabedian had been slow to say that he saw a gun in Barros’ hand, but the difference between the two accounts “wasn’t dramatic”; Zorabedian had testified to seeing Barros with his arm up.

Roklan suggested that Bodden’s statement — the one that Voccola cast as a confession — was simply a case of Bodden taking ownership of his gun.

Bodden never said he shot anyone, Roklan said.

While Bodden’s DNA was on the gun’s grip, it was not on the trigger, he told the jury.

“The evidence stacked up against this defendant in comparison to Stephen Bodden is overwhelming,” he said.

Deliberations begin Monday after Krause instructs the jury.

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